The Triggering Town was very helpful in guiding me to not care so much about what the reader is going to think after reading my poem. I learned that if I'm honest with myself and write about my passions or interests, I'm going to write good poetry. When the first poem was assigned, I had not read the Hugo's theme/idea of not being afraid what the reader thinks yet. I had immedaitely thought of a dream I had recently that I wanted to write about, but then thought to myself that maybe I shouldn't because of how violent/sexual/vivid it was. After I read that section of the book, I wrote the poem about my dream, because I wanted to go with what my mind was telling me to do without any fear. The Triggering Town has inspired me to be a fearless poet.

My poetry writing process usually consists of collecting thoughts from experiences that have happened during the day, or consists of writing while people watching. People watching is one of my favorite things to do (not creepily..) at a restaraunt or while working. I serve tables so I get many opportunities to see strangers communicate passionately daily. When it comes to writing the poem, it always helps me to sit in my room with the fan on, down comforter over me, candles lit, and occasional glass of wine. It may sound corny, but the smells of the candles usually help me relate the smells to feelings or memories I've had.

When I write a poem it various in creation but I tend to maintain certain habits in the overall process. First, I try to come up with a general subject to lead my poem in some direction--I try not to make it too specific to leave room for creative exploration. I write down ideas that I associate with this subject and than gradually narrow down my topic from there. Once I have a topic I just do a lot of thinking about that topic. I seperate myself from fully concentrating on it, and go about my daily activities still keeping it in the back of my mind. I also carry a notebook around with me so when I do have a random thought I can write it down. After a day or two I will sit down with my notebook of thoughts and try to organize them in a poetic way. I try to re-write the lines and see if I can alter the words and bring formality to them. I am not the type of person who can just sit down and write a poem in one draft, that is just not my style.

I think what i will take most from this book is the way to create poems. There is a different method, a different way of composing every time. We as composers of poetry often must rewite our poems and constantly over look them. I liked the fact that he says that all new poets must not be praised, because often a feeling of wanting satisfaction drives us more.

The process I usually use for writing poetry is a rather simple one. Sometimes I sit down in front of my computer and just begin to write. Other times I will find myself either trying to sit outside my back porch, or if it is a nice day, walk down to the park. I often write my poems in notebooks but sometimes if an idea hits me i will find any peice of paper or something to write that idea down onto.

1. The Hugo book taught you many different ways and ideas on how you can go about writing poetry. I also think that how everyone has there own style to poetry is important because we all write in our own style and have our on kind of creativity.

2.When I write a poem first i think about what i am going to write the topic of my poem. I try and get a couple of ideas because for me my first idea never ends up working out. After I have my idea i just start writing down everything that comes to mind and putting it into lines, and trying to make it all fit together. Then i go back through and break everything up and make it fit together and i always end up changing things around and adding things so that it fits together and makes sense.

The most important thing to me from Triggering Town was Hugo's emphasis on creativity. He tells us to not be afraid to jump ahead. Do not be afraid to stray from the norms. I like that he says you won't be a poet until you realize everything he says is wrong. It may be right for him, but it is wrong for you. I think this reiterates the idea of creativity. Poetry is an art form; something for you to make your own. One of my favorite lines he uses is, "In the world of imagination, all things belong."

When I write a poem, I think about the subject. I picture the first thing that comes to my head after I read the subject line. I figure there must be a reason WHY this was the first word that popped into my head. So I usually go from this idea. I try not to think to hard about meaning the first time through. I write whatever comes to my head. Then after I am done, I go back through and edit and change what I have written.

After reading Hugo's The Triggering Town, the concept I will take away the most from the novel is that poetry is an extension of you. That poetry should contain true emotion. Emotion that is real and ignites the imagination. Hugo's writing I believe focused heavily on these concepts. The concept that one's most negative characteristic can be turned into a positive feature or idea in a poem. To never be bound by language. Do not let a title dictate your poem. And that a "poet" should never think that he or she has reached perfection. Always strive for something more and never be self fulfilled. Keep on keeping on.

The process for which I write a poem isn't really all that complex. Step one usually involves purchasing a bottle wine at the local grocery store. Carlo Rossi for 10 bucks is a steal if you ask me. Two glasses of wine later, I tend to stare blankly at my laptop monitor and then just let the words flow. I never think of a title first and pretty much just let my emotions dictate the tone of the poem. I prefer to work in absolute silence as Hugo says one should. I just think I am more in tune with the world around me. I try to at least get one or two metaphors and strive for some comic relief in my poems. They tend to be dark in humor or I guess... sarcastic, and try to imagine situations I would never find myself in. I tend to like to look at picture for a poem as I find that to be my triggering device. My poems I find always tend to be narrative in nature, and I-am-okay-with-that. I have never once tried to rhyme two words because I just feel it comes off corny and unatural (for me anyway).

1) I will take a lot from the Hugo book. It offers many ideas that someone could use when writing poetry and I think more than anything, I'll keep the book and go back to it from time to time for ideas. Hugo just offers so much information and so much technique that I feel like it would be impossible to incorporate all of it every time I write a poem. However, I deffinitely want to make sure that I incorporate some of it in every poem that I write.

2) My process for writing poems is pretty simple. I go to one of the computer labs here at the Delaware Center and make my self comfortable at a desk. Then I read through the prompt for the poem(s) at least three times. Once I feel comfortable with the prompt and know what I need to write, I just start typing things into the keyboard. I just type words or phrases or things I see around me and eventually an idea will pop into my head. Then once I have an idea, I just try to work out a poem from that. And if all goes well, I end up with a pretty good poem.

I just finished the book, "The Triggering Town," by Richard Hugo. I believe that Hugo provided a lot of clever insight about writing poetry and I will take the information he stated and apply to my own personal style and way that I write poetry. He proposes that there are two types of writers, public and private, and I think this is a fairly decent way to categorize the different ways in which poets write. I feel that all of his chapters in the book were designed to cover a basic understanding and concept of writing poetry. My favorite quote from the book is where Hugo says, "Writing is a way of saying you and the world have a chance." I really like this sentence in the book, because it makes me think about my writing acting as a form of expression for me. It comforts me to know that I have a chance to let people hear what I have to say.

Poem ProcessingWhen I write a poem, I let my creativity flow. I start off by getting a specific image in my mind and from there on I just write about what ever comes to me next. Sometimes I like to write about stuff I know really well, and when I do that I like to keep it pretty close to the facts. Other times, I let my imagination soar and I write about whatever pops into my head. I normally tend to make my poems rhyme and I like to write line by line. What I mean by writing line by line is that I start with the first line of the poem and go on to the second...third... forth... fifth... and so on. A lot of the times my poems either tend to have a comic undertone to them or they are mystical and yet sinister. Basically, when I write poetry, I just start writing and don't stop until I clearly get across what I am trying to say.

Hugo helped me realize that even though there are no rules for poetry writing, there are. His guidelines that stand out are the little things, like don't ask questions in your poem. The book matured my poems.My process for a writing a poem is listennig to music or running. I will not sit in front of a piece of paper with a blank mind. I make garbage when I have no pre-meditated subjects to wither down.

1.) I learned a lot about artistry from Hugo's book. An artist should constantly be struggling, and should not need acclaim or praise to continue his work. Art should not be viewed as a competition, and an artist who views his work as such is destined to fail himself. I also learned a lot through his poems and his in depth analysis of them.

2.) When writing a poem, I usually find a topic or idea which I have contemplated and investigated and put it to music. I try to structure my ideas in a way which can effectively translate my opinion. I spend time by myself gathering my thoughts on the idea, and try to express them visually in my head in scenarios, and then fit those scenarios into words and lines. By the end of the poem, I usually feel I have not done my thought justice, or have not fully answered the question I have posed.

Overall I thought Richard Hugo's book gave me a different perspective on how I can approach writing. A few things that I took particular notice to was the idea of coming up with your own assumptions to a subject matter. Whether those assumptions were accurate was essentially arbitrary, it just mattered that you formed them. I also enjoyed chapter 7 in its entirety. He gave interesting insight into other famous writers and how we can learn from them. The book was an enjoyable read that made me think about writing in a slightly different way than I did before I picked up this book.

I found The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo a extremely useful aide in my writing. He addressed several issues I've had myself while writing a poem and it was very stress relieving to know that I am not the only one who has a problems with things just as making assumptions, finding the right "triggering town" to write about, and dealing with feelings of being inadequate when I write. Hugo also wrote about things that I felt like I could relate to, such as obessions with certain parts of my life and how it effects my writing. I was really touched by the chapter Ci Vediamo, which I learned means "until we meet again" in Italian. The story of how emotionally connected he felt to the location he was stationed in during World War II really made me feel like I understood him more as a person which helped me take what he said about writing more to heart. Hugo's honesty about the writing process and things that may effect the writing process are extremely useful and things I feel like I will consider from now on when go through the creative process.

That being said, when I do go through the creative process, I usually go through something different everytime I write a poem. When given a prompt, I usually go through some research about possible topics, like the Animal poem, I searched different wild animals and their behaviors, looking for something to inspire myself. Then I write down my topic and words that come to mind when I think about. I usually don't incorporate all of words, but some of the language that jumps out at me will definitely find a way into the writing, usually when I don't expect it. On the other hand, when I'm just writing for myself, about anything, whenever I feel inspired by something I just write down how I feel. Whatever is going through my head at the time, and although the poem usually ends up pretty rough, I will go back maybe the next day, or even the next week, when my emotion about the topic is less biased in my brain, and then I can make revisions to make the poem clearer and less rigid and more relatable.

1. Basically all summed up into a few sentences, write your poems for the music they make. Don't base it all on truth it becomes almost impossible. If you let your imagination run with a key word you can do wonders to make a poem that flows musically. Certain sounds can make or break a poem. I think this really stood out to me the most because you don't realize how much a poem depends on the sound of the words to make something stand out to you as a reader or a certain words that just pops out in a line. Its all about the music.

2. To be honest i think its different every time i try to write a poem. It depends on my mood, my thoughts, if i have a prompt to follow of if its my own ideas coming down on paper. With the exercises given to me for class i have to think up and idea and then toy around with words. Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out what i want to write about or how i want it to flow. Other times when i get a really good idea words just come to me, i write down all the words i want to use and all the ideas and try my hardest to make it work with my poem. Now for the poems that don't follow a prompt, it comes pretty natrual because there just my thoughts and feelings being spilled out on paper and i just seem to be able to write and write. If i come to a line that i dont like or a word that doesn't quite fit i think of something that would fit better. Then it all comes together.

The main idea that I will take away from the Hugo book is that poets need not be faithful to reality but should instead be faithful to language when writing a poem. He stressed in several chapters and with several different examples the idea that truth will conform to music. I had never thought of writing this way, and I found that when I kept this in mind while I was writing it was really helpful. It doesn't matter if the population of a town is nineteen, if you need to use the word seventeen, you should and the poem will still be accurate. Another aspect of The Triggering Town that really stuck for me was that I could really feel his passion for poetry and for teaching. It is a huge part of his life and he shared many ideas that work for him, some of which I can apply to my writing, others that I just found interesting. Along these lines, the chapter titled Assumptions stood out and showed me an aspect of writing I hadn't ever considered but seems like it could be really beneficial. My process for writing poems isn't the same for every poem. For this class, since for the majority of our poems we have had prompts, I start by jotting down a few ideas I could go with for the poem. From that, I pick of the ideas and write some words that relate to it that I like or some facts or images I think of when considering the topic. Usually at that point I hit a wall. I have to walk away from it for hours, if not a day. Then, for most of the poems, the best ideas I have come to me when I'm laying in bed about to fall asleep. So I end up getting up and jotting them down then putting all my thoughts together in the morning.

it's hot.Not the good kind of hotBut the kind of heat that paralyzes.Mind and body are not one.Sweltering summer snow only layA few inches from me--A phone call away.

That’s the kind of city this is.Where garbage litters once clean andHopeful streets and welcoming benches,Lay as shattered ruins like a dilapidated movie house.Reeling messages, scenes and stories told onlyThroughgraffiti.This is summer North of Newark.